Electric iron



ELECTRIC IRON 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 4, 1955 ELECTRC RON Warren A.Humphrey, Canton, Uhio, assignor to 'I he Hoover Company, North Canton,Ohio, a corporation of @bio Application April 4, 1955, Serial No.498,961

Claims (Cl. 38-77) The present invention relates to electric irons andmore particularly to a combined dry and steam iron.

An object of the invention is to provide an iron having separate heatingelements for steam and dry ironing. Another object is tov provide aniron having a heating element for a steam generator and sole plate insteam ironing, and a separate element for use in dry ironing. A furtherobject is to provide an iron having a heating element to concentrate theheat at a steam generator and provide less heat to the remainder of thesole plate for steam ironing, and another heating element to distributeheat throughout the sole plate for dry ironing. Another object is toprovide a thermostat dial which also controls two heating elements forsteam or dry ironing. Other objects and advantages of the invention willbecome apparent from the following description and drawings wherein:

Figure l is a partial vertical section of the iron showing the dial andswitch in steam ironing position,

Figure 2 is a partial horizontal section of the sole plate showing theswitch in dry ironing position, and

Figure 3 is a partial top plan of the combined switch and thermostatcontrol dial in steam ironing position.

The embodiment of the invention herein disclosed comprises a sole platehaving a pointed front end portion lll. and an enlarged rear end portion12 and is provided with a steam generating chamber 13 in the forwardportion 11 from which extends suitable steam passageways 14 connected tosteam outlet ports 15 for distributing steam on the material being steamironed. A cover plate 16 is attached by screws 17 to the sole plate andcompletes the steam generating chamber 13 and the steam passageways 14.Suitably supported on the cover plate 16 is a water reservoir or tank 30having an outlet 31 for discharge of water to the steam generator 13.Ar-

ranged in the sole plate 10 are two heating elements 18 and 19 enclosedin a single casing 20 of substantially U-shape with the nexus disposedbetween the steam generating chamber 13 and the toe 21 of the soleplate, and the legs 22 of the element extend adjacent the sides 23-23 tothe rear end 24 of the sole plate. The steam iron heating element 18 hasa closely coiled portion 25 adjacent the steam generating chamber 13,and a loosely coiled portion 26 extends therefrom into the rear area 12of the sole plate 10. The closely coiled portion 25 provides the highheat required at the steam generator 13 to convert water into steam, andthe loosely coiled portion 26 applies less concentrated heat to the reararea 12 of the sole plate to heat the latter to the desired temperaturefor steam ironing all synthetic materials without harmful eilects. Thedry iron heating element 19 has a loosely coiled portion 28 whichprovides sufficient heat for the small front portion 11 of the soleplate, and the remainder of the element is closely coiled at 29 tosupply higher heat to properly heat the enlarged area of the sole platefor the different materials to be dry ironed.

A thermostat 33 is mounted by a screw 34 to the sole tmp plate 10 andhas bimetallic element 35 and contacts 36-37 the latter being controlledby a shaft 38 extending through a tube 39 in the reservoir and anopening in the cover shell 40 for connection with a control dial 41. Abolt 42 projects through a tube 43 in the tank to secure the cover shell40 to the sole plate 10 by a captive nut 44. The control dial 41 isremovably attached to the thermostat shaft 38 to uncover the bolt 42 fordetachably securing the cover shell to the sole plate. Provided on theupper surface of the dial 41 are suitable indicia repv resentingdiierent dry ironing temperatures for a variety of fabrics and a singlesteam ironing position.

A handle 45 has front and rear supporting legs 46-47 respectivelyremovably attached to the cover shell 40 by brackets 48 only one ofwhich is shown. The front handle leg 46 has a dot 49 on its base toindicate the different settings of the dial 41. Mounted in the front leg46 is a ll opening 50 communicating with the tank 30 to lill the latterwith water. An overcenter device 51 is mounted in the front leg 46 foroperating a valve stem 52 having a'valve 53 to control the outlet 31 tothe steam generator 13.

The handle rear leg 47 is recessed adjacent the cover shell 40 forinserting a two pole switch 54 provided with an insulated mounting plate55 attached by screws 56 to the handle leg. Dry and steam ironingcontacts 57 and 58 respectively are riveted to the plate 55, and aswitch lever 59 is pivoted at 60 in a bracket 61 and is providedl at oneend with a contact 63. A device is provided to move the switch lever 59to its dilerent operating positions and includes a trip lever 64pivotally supported at 65 on the bracket 61 and has one end connected toa compression spring 67 and the latter is attached to the switch lever59. The arrangement of the spring 67 with respect to the pivot 65 of thetrip lever 64 is to at all times bias the latter and the lever 59 to thedry ironing position shown in Figure 2.

Mounted on the cover shell 40 at the entrance to the handle recess is abracket 69 pivotally supporting a switch actuating lever 70 having theend of one lever arm 71 slidably engaging the trip lever 64 and theother lever arm projecting through a marginal slot 73lin the handle leg47 so that its end 74 is beneath the control dial 41. A torsion spring75 at all times urges the lever 70 to rotate in a counterclockwisedirection to the dotted line dry ironing position indicated in Figure l.A lug 76 on the cover shell 46 limits counterclockwise movement of thelever 70 to prevent the lever end 74 engaging the dial 41 unless thelatter is in steam ironing position.

The dial 41 has a downwardly directed cam 77 adjacent its periphery forengagement with the lever end 74 when the control dial is in steamironing position to rotate the lever 70 clockwise and cause the triplever 64 to move to its full line position shown in Figure l to closethe contacts 6.3-58 for steam ironing.

The electrical circuit includes a power lead 80 connected to thethermostat contact 37, and the other contact 36 is connected by a wire81 to the bracket 61 joined with the switch lever 59. The switch contact57 is connected by a wire 82 to the dry ironing heating element 19 whichis joined to a conductor 83 connected to the other power lead 84. A wire85 connects the other switch contact 58 to the steam ironing heatingelement 18 which is also connected to the conductor 83 and thus to thepower lead 84.

When fabrics are to be dry ironed the dial 41 is rotated to register thedesired indicia, representing the required temperature for the fabric,opposite the dot 49 to thereby adjust the thermostat contacts 36-37 toautomatically make and break the dry ironing circuit. In all settings ofthe dial 41 for dry ironing the lever 70 is out of contact with the dial41 and thus the switch spring 67 maintains the switch lever 59 engagedwith the contact 57 to energize the dry iron heating element 19. Theloosely wound coil portion 2h of the element 19 provides lessconcentrated temperature at the front portion 11 of the sole plate wherethe ironing surface area of the sole plate is relatively small. Theclose coiled portion 29 of the element 19 supplies a greaterconcentrated heat to the rearward portion 12 of the sole plate, andsince this area is large in comparison with the toe portion thetemperature of the rear portion of the sole plate will be substantiallythe same as the front portion to thereby provide a uniformly heated soleplate for dry ironing.

It the material is to be steam ironed the dial 41 is rotated to arrangethe indicia steam opposite the dot 49 on the handle leg 47 to adjust thethermostat contacts 36-37 to the temperature at which they make andbreak the circuit. Movement of the dial 41 to steam position causes thecam 77 to engage the end 74 of the actuating lever 7@ to rotate thelatter clockwise as viewed in Figure l whereby the trip lever 64 isrotated counterclockwise against the force of the spring 67 to engagethe contacts 63-58 as shown in Figure l to thereby energize the steamiron heating element 18.

The valve actuator 51 is then operated to open the valve 53 to allowwater to drip into the steam generator 13. The close coiled portion 25of the element 18 supplies concentrated heat to the generator 13 toimmediately convert the water into steam for passage through the outlets15 onto the fabrics, and in addition also heats the toe portion 11 ofthe sole plate. The portion 12 of the sole plate rearwardly of the steamgenerator 13 is supplied with less concentrated heat by the looselycoiled portion 26 of the element 18 and is sufficient to heat thatportion of the sole plate to substantially the temperature provided bythe close coiled portion 25 at the toe of the iron.

In order to terminate steam ironing the dial 41 is shifted to oliiposition to separate the thermostat contacts F16-$7, or to a dry ironingsetting whereby the cam 77 is shifted out of engagement with the end 74of the lever 70 and the switch spring 67 moves the contact 63 intoengagement with dry ironing contact 57. The lug 76 limitscounterclockwise movement of the lever 70 to prevent the end 74 fromengaging the dial 41.

While I have shown and described but one embodiment of my invention, itis to be understood that this embodiment is 'to be taken as illustrativeonly and not in a limiting sense. 1 do not wish to be limited to theparticular structure shown and described but to include all equivalentvariations except as limited by the scope of the claims.

I claim:

l. A dry and steam iron comprising a sole plate, a steam generatingchamber at the forward end of said sole plate, valve means forcontrolling flow of water to said generating chamber, a steam ironingheating element arranged adjacent said steam generating chamber to heatthe latter, a dry ironing heating element independent of said steam ironheating element and extending from said steam generating chamber to heatthe larger area of said soleplate, a thermostat for controlling thetemperatures of both of said heating elements, switch means operableindependently of said valve means for separately energizing said heatingelements, and unitary control means for operating said switch means toseparately energize said heating elements for dry and steam ironing.

2. A dry and steam iron as described in claim 1, and said control meansincluding a control dial for said thermostat and having steam and dryironing positions, and means on said dial controlling said switch meansand operable depending upon said positions of said dial to separatelyenergize said heating elements.

3. A dry and steam iron comprising a sole plate, a steam generatingchamber at the forward end of said sole plate, valve means forcontrolling flow of water to said generating chamber, a steam ironingheating element eX- tending from the rear of said sole plate and havinga portion adjacent said steam generating chamber, said portion beingclosely wound to concentrate heat at said steam generating chamber, adry iron heating element eXtending rearwardly from said steam generatingchamber and having a portion closely wound to distribute heat to thelarger rear area of said sole plate, a thermostat for controlling thetemperatures of both of said heating elements, switch means operableindependently of said valve means for separately energizing said heatingelements, and unitary control means for operating said switch means toseparately energize said heating elements for dry and steam ironing.

4. A dry and steam iron as described in claim 3, and said control meansincluding a control dial for said thermostat and having steam and dryironing positions, and means on said dial controlling said switch meansand operable depending upon the positions of said dial to separatelyenergize said heating elements.

5. An iron for dry and steam ironing comprising a sole plate, a steamironing heating element in said sole plate, a dry ironing heatingelement in said sole plate and independent of said steam iron heatingelement, switch means connectible to said dry and steam heatingelements, a control dial having steam and dry ironing positions,actuating means operatively connecting said control dial to said switchmeans to elect operation of the latter for dry and steam ironing, meanson said control dial operable when the latter is in said dry ironingposition to engage said actuating means and effect operation of saidswitch to energize said dry ironing heating element, and cam means onsaid control dial operable when the latter is in steam ironing positionto engage said actuating means and thus operate said switch means toenergize said steam ironing heating element.

Heterences Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,345,413 Morton Mar. 28, 1944 2,582,773 Finlayson Jan. 15, 19522,725,453 Haller Nov. 29, 1955

